Father's Day 2009

Happy Father's day to all of the fathers out there. We all do our best and it is often inadequate, but we try. Guiding and directing children is difficult and doubly so in a world that has slowly eroded the fabric of life. Values and morals are less important to the world in 2009 than they were in the 60's. There is a small demographic that is once again introducing values and boundaries to their kids and I applaud them. I see the respect and the honor given to parents and others in authority at our church and I give thanks for that. We had a nice service this morning and a video of a young boy watching everything his father did, from how he played with him to how he acted when he got in a small fender bender and how he handled his family's bills. It was powerful to see the influence that a father has on his young child's life.

Darla roused me a minute ago and told me to get in and work on my Blog. I had taped the US Open golf and was watching it and relaxing. When it ended, she sent me in here to update the blog.

Sorry that I haven't had any new pictures for awhile. Things have been so busy at work that we haven't done much but relax at home. I was in Scottsdale last Sunday-Tuesday night. I was able to learn alot about the company that put on the seminar and was able to come back and share that with the Underwriters. I was also able to have lunch with one of my contract carriers after the seminar on Tuesday and dinner with several underwriters and my old boss, Emery, who is now the Pacific Division Manager of our largest carrier partner. Wednesday I had about seven hours to get caught up on work and then was off to the airport to pick up our CEO and a Product Manager from HO. Harvey was supposed to go with me, but got stuck in traffic and I had to make the airport run myself. The plane from Salt Lake was due in at 5:24 PM and was on time when I left the office. I got to the airport early and parked in the Cell Phone lot waiting for a call. 5:30 came and went and I finally started the loop around looking for my passengers. Five trips around and I started to panic, thinking perhaps they expected me to meet them inside. I quickly parked the car and ran in to the airport to find the flight delayed until 6:05 PM. We went to dinner with a retailer that night and I finally got home at about 10:30 PM. I was up early the next day and at the hotel to pick them up at 7:15 AM for a breakfast meeting with another agent.

We went in the office, visited with the staff and had lunch brought in (one of the ladies bought meats and cheeses, breads, condiments, veggies and drinks from Whole Foods). The cost of the lunch was over $200. I had my sit down and was told to increase the writings in the office. We will do close to $500,000 in profit this year, but can always do better. The afternoon was spent looking at buildings.

My boss is a real estate mogul owning over 100 properties as a landlord and has little patience for brokers. We met two of them and he carved them up pretty well. We then looked at new office space for two hours, before I drove him to a local former military base where he met a Net Jets for a trip to Las Vegas and a Net Jets event. It looks like best case we will stay in our space for one more year and then move to a larger space. The company is in an acquisition mode and we may buy more of our competitors and need more space.

The Product manager stayed over another day until Friday and I carted him out to one of my retailers for lunch Friday. I told him in the morning that I had to get some work done at my desk before we left and was able to get about three and a half hours in before we left. He had a 4 PM flight, so I had to get him to the airport by 3:00 PM and just drove back home after that.

It was a tiring week and left me WAY behind at work. It is the company's 40th anniversary and we are having a celebration on Tuesday afternoon. I have to go out and get cake and ice cream. Baskin Robbins here I come.

I did manage a golf game this weekend. We played at Ancil Hoffman, which is one of the oldest golf courses in the Sacramento area and also has the most trees. It is also home to the infamous Reagan Governor's mansion that was built in the late seventies and never lived in by a California Governor as Jerry Brown took over the state and Governor "Moonbeam" railed against the excesses of government and refused to live in the mansion. It was built entirely by donations, but Jerry felt the cost of just upkeep and security on the mansion was a waste of money. He had a small apartment in downtown Sacramento and lived on a mattress. He was and he is a goofball, but he had Linda Rondstadt as his girlfriend at the time and Mike Curb (of Curb records in Hollywood) as his Lieutenant Governor. My driver was not behaving on Saturday and I was pushing shots all over the place. When I do that it is because my arms get too far from my body. I figured it out on number 8 and finished par-par on the front for a 45 and managed a 40 on the back for an 85. I wasn't happy, but better a 45+40 than a 40+45, eh?

I talked to Jennifer this weekend and she is working three ten-hour days on her off weeks with Samantha as they attempt to have the City Center Casino open in December. She also worked overtime Saturday and was praised by the GC for her hard work in getting the new fiber optic network up and running. I received a card from Jennifer for Father's day, which I appreciate, but I got a card from Samantha with her scribble on it that really touched my heart. Thank you, Jennifer.

Our pastor is taking a family vacation next week and we will have a pastor from the Verve church in Las Vegas come and preach to us. We saw a hilarious video of their pastor, Vince Antonucci, today and I'm trying to get Jennifer and Dina to try out the church. We will see him next week and report to Jennifer. Here is his YouTube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5V2RHG5c3HM&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Evinceantonucci%2Ecom%2F2006%2F01%2Fvideos%2Ehtml&feature=player_embedded

I hope you are all happy and healthy. I'll write more next week. Ciao.